Pirated ‘Harry Potter’ Discs Found in Taiwan

Taiwanese police uncovered a ring of copyright pirates Sunday and found 100,000 video compact discs, including copies of the new blockbuster movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

The pirate ring’s suspected leader, Cheng Shih-tsong, and an accomplice have eluded authorities, who arrested Cheng’s mother and sister Sunday after searching homes in a Taipei suburb.

An investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity said the pirate ring was one of the island’s main suppliers of unauthorized VCDs--a video disc that can be used in a computer but not a DVD player.

Taiwan is stepping up its efforts to fight widespread counterfeiting. Video discs, music CDs and counterfeit software are sold in markets across the island. The kind of VCDs confiscated in Sunday’s raid sell for about $2.90 each.

The investigator said that unlike most pirated versions of films, shot with hand-held cameras in theaters, the quality of the confiscated copies of the Harry Potter film was very good.

He suspects they were copied directly from an original copy of the film, which opened in theaters in Taiwan on Nov. 17.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books are popular in Taiwan, where translated versions first hit the shelves in September 2000.

Police said it was possible some of the VCDs were destined for sale in China.

They said the confiscated discs also included Japanese and American pornographic videos and martial artist Jet Lee’s new movie “The One,” which is scheduled for release in Taiwan on Dec. 7.